One year

That day, in a clearing in the Bing No. 7 Medicine Garden, Xiao Yu murmured under his breath, then suddenly raised his right hand.

A moment later, a ripple stirred in the space half an inch from Xiao Yu's fingertip, and a slender wisp of flame appeared out of thin air.

The instant the flame appeared, it gave a sizzling hiss and, amid a distortion of space, abruptly became a tongue of fire roughly two feet long. It writhed as nimbly as a little snake. With its appearance, intense heat spread through the surrounding ten feet of space.

Xiao Yu observed it for a moment in satisfaction, then brought his fingers together and pointed toward a patch of open ground.

Suddenly, the tongue of fire at his fingertips shot in the direction he indicated.

The instant the fire serpent touched the ground, a boom thundered out, and it erupted into a raging blaze.

Before long, the flames died out, revealing the scorched ground beneath. A pit four feet wide and one foot deep had appeared in what had once been level earth.

The exposed soil had turned charred black, and wisps of bluish smoke still rose from it. Xiao Yu stepped forward and touched it. The soil had become extraordinarily dry; the intense heat must have stripped away much of its moisture.

"Hahaha! I never expected this new Fire Serpent Technique to be twice as powerful as the original. Looks like I need to draw the talismans as soon as possible to boost my fighting strength." Xiao Yu laughed heartily as he surveyed the spell's power.

An ordinary Fire Serpent Technique manifested as something resembling a little snake about a foot long, but the one Xiao Yu cast was two feet long, and its destructive effect was twice as strong.

By now, a year had passed since he moved here.

After returning from the Scripture Pavilion that day, he had thrown himself back into arduous cultivation. Every day was spent taking pills and meditating, collecting purple liquid to mature spirit herbs, and practicing spells.

Since he had never taken similar pills before, the Yellow Dragon Pill, Great Restoration Pill, and Golden Marrow Pill all had a considerable effect on him, even though he was already at the tenth level of Qi Refining.

Xiao Yu ate all three kinds of pills like candy every day. With such extravagant consumption, after more than half a year of cultivation, he had now reached the eleventh level of Qi Refining! This cultivation speed truly lived up to the pill-popping approach.

Moreover, throughout those months, he had cultivated using the cultivation method optimized by the Heavenly Book. Xiao Yu had named the book in the mysterious space that could optimize cultivation methods the "Heavenly Book."

Compared with ordinary eleventh-level cultivators, although he was at the same level, he had twenty percent more magical power within his body.

Switching cultivation methods had caused him no trouble, because the optimized Fire Cloud Art only made minor adjustments to the original. Both methods sprang from the same source, so he completed the switch with ease.

As for the purple liquid produced by the Purple Gourd, he had not wasted a single drop. Apart from a small portion used to mature the ingredients needed for the Yellow Dragon Pill and the other two pills, he used most of it to mature the supplementary herbs required to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.

In addition, he had matured three old firecloud ginseng plants. One was a thousand years old, and the other two were eight hundred years old. These three plants should fetch quite a few spirit stones, and Xiao Yu planned to exchange them for high-quality magical artifacts.

Although selling spirit herbs of such great age carried considerable risk, they were currently the only things Xiao Yu had that could bring him a large number of spirit stones. To increase his strength quickly, that risk was worth taking.

As it happened, Xiao Yu's aptitude for spells was fairly good. During his previous dozen or so years of cultivation, he had already mastered most beginner low-tier spells.

After reaching the tenth level, he began practicing mid-tier spells. Throughout the past year, whenever he had time, he practiced spells like a man possessed. He cast all sorts of spells over and over until the spiritual power in his body ran dry, then replenished it and resumed practicing.

Hard work did not fail a determined heart. By now, he could proficiently cast several beginner mid-tier spells, including the Fire Serpent Technique, Wooden Shield Art, Diamond Body Art, and Earth Spike Art.

Now that he had broken through to the eleventh level,

he could consider practicing beginner high-tier spells next. If he learned high-tier spells and sealed them into talismans, his strength could increase greatly once again. Throughout those months, Xiao Yu entered the mysterious space almost every few days to carefully observe the Heavenly Book's changes.

Finally, yesterday-exactly one year after he first tested the Heavenly Book-the two large characters on it had at last returned to precisely their original state.

Upon seeing the Heavenly Book restored, Xiao Yu could not wait to try it again.

He pressed his right hand against the Heavenly Book, silently recited the incantation, and circulated the magical power within his body along the casting route of the Fire Serpent Technique.

A moment later, the two large characters on the Heavenly Book flashed with dazzling golden light. At first, the light was too brilliant to look at directly, but it gradually became soft and soothing, appearing extraordinarily mysterious. Then the two characters slowly twisted and swayed, beginning to spread across the entire front of the Heavenly Book.

After a moment, the large characters stopped twisting, then vanished in a flash. Immediately afterward, two meridian diagrams appeared on the front of the Heavenly Book, each accompanied by a line of glowing text. The diagrams were arranged symmetrically, one on either side. Xiao Yu looked closely and saw that they were indeed the incantations and magical power circulation routes for the Fire Serpent Technique.

"Hahaha! The Heavenly Book really can be used again! It isn't a one-use item. That means I can keep obtaining powerful cultivation methods and spells without end!" Xiao Yu danced with joy. Not daring to delay, he carefully memorized the new Fire Serpent Technique's incantation and casting route.

Once he confirmed that he had memorized everything, Xiao Yu removed his right hand from the Heavenly Book. The glowing text and diagrams on it slowly dimmed and disappeared shortly afterward.

This time, however, the original two large characters did not vanish as they had before. Their outlines merely dimmed a little. Judging by this, they certainly would not take a full year to recover.

It seems the Heavenly Book treats cultivation methods and spells differently when optimizing them. From what I can tell, optimizing a cultivation method requires a one-year "cooldown." I'll need to observe it for a while longer to determine the "cooldown" for optimizing spells. These are only Qi Refining Stage cultivation methods and spells, too. I wonder whether things will change after Foundation Establishment? That will take time to verify, Xiao Yu thought.

"Ah, what a shame that this 'cooldown' is still so long," Xiao Yu sighed, still not quite satisfied.

Then he excitedly left the mysterious space and began testing the new Fire Serpent Technique. Since the new version had some adjustments compared with the original, Xiao Yu spent a day practicing and adapting before he successfully cast it, leading to the scene at the beginning.

As for the other version of the Fire Serpent Technique that appeared on the Heavenly Book, his experiments confirmed that it was indeed a weakened version. This Heavenly Book really was peculiar, offering one strong version and one weak version. Wasn't that redundant? Anyone would know which to choose.

Since it could strengthen cultivation methods or spells, he could not let that advantage go to waste. He needed to put it to good use to increase his fighting strength.

Testing showed that the enhanced spell was only stronger in power. Its casting time had not shortened, so he still could not cast it instantly, and it consumed much more magical power as well. If he wanted to use it in one-on-one combat or small-scale battles, his best option was to seal it into talismans.

Lately, whenever he had time, he took out the Complete Guide to Making Beginner Talismans that he had copied in the Scripture Pavilion and studied its contents. However, he still lacked the tools for making talismans, so he had yet to put any of it into practice.

Now that this test had confirmed the Heavenly Book's ability to enhance spells, making talismans needed to go straight onto his agenda. When the time came, if he threw out handful after handful of enhanced talismans, surely few Qi Refining Stage cultivators could withstand them. If he activated dozens or even a hundred at once, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have a bitter cup to swallow.

With that thought, Xiao Yu gathered his things, activated the Medicinal Garden's restrictions, then left the garden and flew toward the sect.